Frequently Asked Questions

Posting Procedures

Failure to follow the posting procedures will result in the removal of the offending post or it being locked if deemed necessary by the moderation team.

A Suggestion on Questions!

In an effort to limit repetitive content,
the moderation team recommends that users wishing to ask questions do so in our Daily Q&A post or
Moronic Monday thread. This includes any question that could easily be answered with 'Yes' and 'No' responses.

Filter By Flair:

Subreddit Rules

(1) - Follow proper Reddiquette and the subreddit's Posting Procedures. Keep it civil and do not make threats or use excessive foul language. Harassment and hate speech will not be tolerated. The moderation team reserves the right to remove content or restrict user posting privileges as necessary.

(3) - No spam. Self-promotion should be thoughtful, limited, and consistently well received by the community.

(4) - No advertising. Any user who wishes to giveaway an item or link users to a poll/survey must receive approval from the moderation team with adequate notice BEFORE making the post. Please do not submit threads solely for the purpose of collecting/raising funds for your event or to help you pay for your entry into an event.

(5) - Please do not post elite race results in the title of posts.

(6) - Obvious trolling will result in removal.

(7) - Displaying detailed personal information of anyone other than yourself is prohibited. Submission of content focused on ousting cheaters will be removed at the moderation team's discretion.

(8) - Do not solicit or offer medical advice. This includes 'Has anyone else experienced this injury?' type posts.

(9) - Do not submit photos, videos, or memes that add nothing to the discussion. Please keep all submission titles brief. Do not use excessive emoji characters in the titles of posts.

(10) - The 'TMI Rule' - Individual posts highlighting bodily functions such as bowel movements will be removed at discretion of the moderation team.

Recurring Threads

Visit all of our recurring threads. Daily, weekly, monthly, there are a lot to pick from. If you're looking for a more specific place to ask a question, have a more in depth conversation or simply need to get something off your chest, then check out some of the most active recurring threads we have! There's something for everyone.

I'm 100% convinced he's right about posture being the most important part of running form. I was blown away during the first yoga class I took because it opened my eyes to how horrible my posture had been (after running for 10+ years, 20+ marathons) and I hadn't realized it. I saw immediate improvements in my running once I worked on my posture. Form shouldn't change too much regardless of the terrain, mainly just how you are leaning.
1. Make sure you are engaging your core completely
2. Be light on your feet and do pretend like there is a string running up your spine being pulled up while you run

I thought what he says about arm swing determining cadence was very interesting. I've always felt that way but never really heard others mention it. If my stride starts to feel lazy I'll try to focus on a better faster arm swing and immediately feel everything else fall back into place. For me through, it feels better if my arm swing is almost a mirror action of my leg. So my elbow drives backwards as a counterweight to my knee driving forward and my arm will also slightly as it swings forward as a counterweight to my knee bending and my foot swinging up near my butt. It seems weird that he does such little arm swings because for me that wouldn't function as a counterweight as well as it does with a more full arm swing.

I'm sure everyone has seen this video before but there is a lot of shots of his form at a few different paces. My arm swing looks much more like his and if I get the small relaxed arm swing everything feels slightly uneven.

Serious question: He mentions that the change in his habits was prompted by Born to Run. Hasn't a lot of what's preached in this book been discounted for lack of evidence? Or maybe just the barefoot running parts?

Yeah, he def drank the kool-aide a bit. I suppose I did as well, having read the book and now run in Newtons.

I have found that it works for me and now I could run in any shoe and know how I'm doing form-wise by feel.

I don't know about the evidence or lack thereof in Born to Run. I think the people that worry about form typically would benefit more from putting in more miles than worrying about form/cadence etc...

It's very easy to sit back and think that form will magically help you run 'easier' or that running more 'efficiently' will make you become a better runner when that's just not the case. Just my 2cents

The biggest thing I get irritated about when people talk of "Born to Run" like it's the holy book of running, and switch to barefoot, is that they don't stop and think for themselves. Those tribesmen run barefoot. But they don't run on concrete. We run on concrete, because that's where most humans live now (at least in more developed countries), and barefoot on concrete is just not good for your body. That's why padded running shoes are a thing.

I fell like you maybe missed some of the point of his discussion of the tribal running, in that the barefoot movement isn't about the cushioning or removal thereof; it's that if you try barefoot you suddenly notice your foot changes to trying to naturally land on your forefoot (if you were previously a heel striker).

Bringing this, coupled with removing the 'wedge' that you get with a traditional training shoe, can help gain on your performance and reduce injury.

Try out a zero drop, but cushioned shoe, e.g. Merrell Bare Access, and you'll see what I mean.

I was talking about more how people misinterpret the book and go to run barefoot on concrete, leading to injury. The book itself isn't wrong at all, just the people who can't apply logic to it.

Also I have tried out a zero drop shoe (New Balance Minimus) and found my times skyrocketing, making me much slower. I realize that the transition takes time, but I don't have time for the transition right now. And why change my stride when I'm doing well?

It's totally normal (especially at higher speeds). You usually don't notice because (1) it happens quite fast and (2) usually people are wearing bulkier shoes than wheating in the video, which blunts this roll-inwards effect a bit. Notice in the slow mo that his foot doesn't start rolling until a couple centimeters before it lands. At a very rough guess, that's probably less than a frame (1/24th of a second) of standard video, whereas this is 1000 frames/second. So normally you'd never even see it unless you knew to look for it and were in the right circumstance.

My understanding is that yes, everyone does that to some extent -- it's called pronation. If you do it way too far (overpronation), it can be a problem. I'm not an expert in judging what constitutes good versus bad pronation, but my guess is that since he's an Olympian, it's not bothering him too much.

No. Pronation and supination refer to how far outside or to the middle your feet roll when you step. People with flat feet do tend to overpronate, but they're different things! Here's an article that gives some explanation of pronation, and one on supination.

Pronation is rolling your feet outside to in as you hit the ground, as demonstrated in the video. Slightly rarer is supination, which is the opposite- hitting on the inside and rolling out. Doing it too much in either direction is not good for you and your feet- head to a good running store where they'll analyze your form and recommend shoes based on how you hit the ground. If you do it too much, there are shoes specifically designed for over-pronation or supination, which have reinforced edges along the side that would wear down.

Whoa, this whole time I've been thinking that pronation was a movement toward the inner side, like with hands (supination is turning them palms up, pronation palms down). Edit: thinking about it, it is the same movement. Somehow I was thinking of it statically.

I think this is what you are referring to. I remember it well because it was posted to /r/C25K a while back and someone suggested carrying actual chips to consume when you finish as "VICTORY CHIPS!". Since then I imagine victory chips every time I think of form while running.

Have you looked at "chi" running? I'm not sure about the rest of what they teach, but the running form seems pretty consistent with other sources, and has worked for me -- reduced injuries(I used to get shin splints almost chronically, haven't since I changed my form 2yrs ago -- only heard about chi running a couple weeks ago) and better speed/distance.

Seconded. I'm still a novice runner, but have been using this "style" for a while now. Prior to this, I was fighting shin splints on and off for years. Started incorporating some of this form, and have not had a single injury since (disclaimer: my highest mileage week is ~15 miles, so it's not like I'm running a zillion miles, BUT I'm 6'2" and nearly 240#... so running pain and injury free is a big deal for me).